| Scientific Name: | Betula lenta |
| Common Name: | cherry birch, sweet birch, black birch |
| Family Name: | Betulaceae |
| Origin: | Canada - eastern, U.S. - northeast |
| Hardiness Zone: | Zone 3: (-40 to -34 °C) |
| Plant Type: | Tree - deciduous |
| Mature Size: | 10 - 15m x 10 - 15m (height x width) |
| Habit: | Upright |
| Form: | Pyramidal - widely |
| Texture: | Medium |
| Landscape Uses: | Erosion control, Forestry, Shade tree, Woodland margin |
| Exposure: | Full sun, Part sun/part shade |
| Soil or Media: | Rocky or gravelly or dry, Well-drained |
| Leaves: | Simple, Alternate, Soft flexible, Pinnate venation, Pubescent, Elliptic, Ovate, Double serrate, Serrulate |
| Flowers: | Catkin (ament), Yellow, Brown, Mar-Apr |
| Fruit: | Samara, Brown, May-Jun |
| Key ID Features: | |
| Bark non-exfoliating dark with wide, cherry-like lenticels (horizontal and wide), smooth and dark reddish-brown when young, becoming dark gray and scaly with age; leaves elliptical to ovate, 5-10cm long x 4-8cm wide, margins finely single toothed or irregularly double toothed. Winter ID: bark; twigs smooth, zig-zag, reddish with strong wintergreen smell; lateral buds conical, 5-8mm long glabrous, diverging from twigs; immature male catkins. | |